Infinitus
by october31st1981
Summary: "How long do you think they'll keep being prats about fancying each other?" murmurs Peter to Sirius. James pretends not to listen, stabbing at his dinner plate forcefully. "Oh, another four years at least." A series of unconnected drabbles.
1. Heather

"Hogsmeade's coming up this weekend, yeah?" says James. He shoots what he hopes is a surreptitious glance down the table. His friends seem to be stifling laughter, but he continues on, his volume increasing. "I'm going to be taking my _girlfriend_, Heather."

Remus bites his lip, unable to hide a small grin. "Are you really, mate? I had no clue, seeing as you _haven't_ been announcing that at every meal for the past week and a half." He shares a glance with Peter and Sirius.

Their friend remains nonplussed and sends another darting look toward the girls just slightly further down Gryffindor table. "I thought you might have forgotten, since she's not in our classes. Because she is a Ravenclaw and a whole _year_ above us, and usually hangs out with the other fourth years."

"She's only two months older than me," mutters Sirius under his breath, rolling his eyes. A smirk soon creeps up on his lips. "You know who's two months older than James?"

"Now, who could that be?" asks Remus in a bemused tone.

"Not anyone in_ fourth year_, that's for sure," Peter replies, his eyes drifting toward the same spot that James's have been.

Sirius nods thoughtfully. He meets eyes with James, who sends him a warning look. "You're right, Pete. I was actually going to say that Lily Evans was born in January, while James here was born in March. She's in Gryffindor and our year."

"Her hair is red, which is James's favourite colour," adds Peter, catching on to Sirius's intentions.

"I hear she likes venison," supplies Remus. In response, Sirius nearly chokes on his pumpkin juice.

After a good few thumps on the back from Peter, Sirius regains his calm enough to speak. "Bit unfortunate that she's going to Hogsmeade with Davey Gudgeon, what with how she and James have so much in common."

"Is she?" says James, his voice an octave higher. He tries desperately to stop his eyes from flitting back to where the subject of their conversation sits, but he cannot help himself. He and Lily lock eyes, and James does not look away as he says, "I wasn't aware."

"Strange, that. You'd reckon you'd have heard, seeing as she's been announcing it in the common room for a week and a half," replies Sirius casually, watching his mate's reaction.

James is saved from having to reply as Lily herself rises from the table and walks by, pausing to say, "You ought to keep your voice down, Potter. I doubt anyone cares about your date with your girlfriend Holly,"

"Heather," corrects James, unable to resist the urge to ruffle his hair.

Lily shrugs and moves past him, only looking back at James once she has collected Davey from the other end of the table. She pulls the other boy along by the hand as a flush rises in James's ears.

"How long do you think they'll keep being prats about fancying each other?" murmurs Peter to Sirius. James pretends not to listen, stabbing at his dinner plate forcefully.

"Oh, another four years at least."

* * *

><p><em>Prompt: Lily and James trying to make each other jealous with their boyfriendsgirlfriends._


	2. Rouge House Elves

_Prompt: Sirius opening James' curtains to find that Lily spent the night in their dorm._

* * *

><p>"Something seems to have snuck into bed with James," remarks Sirius casually, inclining his head towards his best mate's four-poster. "Now, what do you suppose it could be?"<p>

Remus eyes the two pairs of feet sticking out of the curtains. One is the familiar sight of the feet of their friend and dorm mate, the other a noticeably smaller pair entangled with his. "The feet are smaller. Perhaps a first year?" he proposes, grinning.

"Or a house elf," suggests Peter from his spot on his own bed. He wears an identical expression to Remus.

Sirius puts on a face that is the picture of worry. "D'you reckon our mate has been attacked by a rogue house elf? He might be lying there, dead, behind that curtain. Seems like it's our duty to check on him."

"Only out of the purest concern for his safety," says Peter, nodding.

Remus rolls up his sleeves. "Sacrifices must be made."

Together, the three boys approach the bed. Remus and Sirius each grab a pair of legs, while Peter pulls the curtains apart. Out of the bed come tumbling James, and a girl who is indeed not a rogue house elf, and does not look the least interested in killing James. She does look like she'd like to hex the other boys, though.

"Why, Lily," gasps Sirius, clutching a hand to his chest. "Whatever are you doing in the boy's dormitory? Thinking of transferring?"

Peter sniggers. "Maybe they have been attacked. Look at the state of their hair."

"We shouldn't rule out the rogue house elf being involved," Remus gestures to the couple on the floor, barely holding up James's duvet over all the appropriate places. "It looks like someone's stolen their clothes."

James reaches a hand back to pull something off the bed. He withdraws it once he has located one of his shirts, but hands the clothing to Lily, who disappears under the duvet to put it on. "I'm going to kill you," he says, folding his arms over his chest. "Slowly, painfully, and without mercy."

Sirius's grin, though it barely seems possible, widens. "But Prongs, we were anxious for your safety! We heard such strange noises coming from your bed last night that we wanted to make sure you were alright."

Lily emerges from the covers. "I suppose none of you lot would be familiar, what with the amount of girls that can put up with you," she quips.

Remus's reply is quick. "Sounded like you were putting up with James well enough."

If it were one of the other boys, they all know that James would be right alongside them, cracking jokes, but as it stands all James does is send him a rude hand gesture, his lips twitching slightly.

Lily rolls her eyes, rising from the floor. James's shirt reaches halfway down her thigh, covering anything she wants covered, but she moves toward the bed, grabbing her discarded clothing. "I'm going to the loo," she tells them as she walks towards it.

James sighs, running a hand through his hair, which, true to Peter's assessment, already looks as if it has been attacked by something. "Wankers," he mutters, giving them a dark look.

Before they can respond, Lily pauses at the door of the lavatory, throwing a look at James. "Coming?" she asks.

The boys all glance back at James. On his part, he scrambles to his feet, holding the duvet up around his waist. They both disappear into the lavatory, but a moment later James's hand shoots out, throwing the duvet out onto the dormitory floor.

Sirius cannot help but nod in approval. "Not bad, Potter, not bad."


	3. Lover Boy

_Prompt: James and Lily as childhood best friends into seventh year._

* * *

><p>It's like clockwork.<p>

She used to have to look at her watch, or wait by the window, or send an owl over to be certain that he would come, but by now, her entire being can sense when he is coming. Lily doesn't need to hear the window being pushed further open, or the groan that escapes his mouth as he knocks a pointed elbow into the frame, because some sense that she has developed tells her when James Potter is nearby. Which is why she is prepared to march over and yank him in by his skinny arms in barely a moment.

"You'd think," he says, falling into her arms, "that I'd get better at that after seven years. But I always end up with a bruise on my arse or the wind knocked out of me."

Lily smiles, because she knows how frustrated he gets when he can't get the hang of something. It is a rare occasion when he does not excel at the things he does. "You _are_ a wizard, mate. You could just use a broom or a charm to help you through," she reminds him.

James straightens himself before plopping down on her bed. "Can't change now, Evans. S'tradition."

Lily rolls her eyes, and sits down cross-legged across from him. "Did you bring it?" she asks.

He nods, pulling out the envelope from his jeans pocket. Like hers, it seems as though quite a lot has been stuffed inside the lumpy rectangle. "Bit heavier this year," James comments, flipping it over in his hands. "Mum tried to get me to open it, but I told her I was waiting for you to get yours. We probably just need more books this year, with NEWTs and all that."

"Probably," she agrees, pulling out her own letter. "Shall we?"

James makes a noise of assent and the two tear into their Hogwarts letters, turning them over so the contents spill onto the bed. Among Lily's pile of letters, there is a badge. Among James's, there are two. Neither fails to notice this, and James picks one up in each hand.

He looks at the first and grins, and Lily figures this must be his Quidditch Captain badge. He made Captain of Gryffindor's team last year, and while they did not win the cup, he led the team very well. He turns to the second badge, and then drops it as if he has just realized he was holding a dangerous poison.

Curiously, she leans over and picks it up. Her mouth forms a small 'O' shape when she reads the letters HB decorating the front. "Congratulations," she murmurs, trying not to laugh.

"_Congratulations?_" James squeaks, his voice cracking. "I was just made a Prefect. _Head_ Prefect. Quit laughing, Evans, this isn't funny."

"Oh, stop being dramatic, Potter. A lot of blokes were probably vying for Head Boy, and you got it without even being Prefect first. Bleeding lucky, is what you are," Lily says, laying back on her bed.

He lays next to her, pulling the badge out of her hands. The papers from inside the letters are squished between them, along with Lily's own badge. "Then one of the other blokes can have it," he grumbles, frowning at the object in his hands. "I can't be a Prefect. I'm a troublemaker. I purvey and _aid_ mischief."

Lily grins, turning her head toward him. "You're a leader, James. You know how to keep people's attention. Embrace it. In fact, you're going to be in a higher Prefect position than I am, so enjoy it, wanker."

James reaches between them, his fingers clasping around Lily's badge. He brings it into his line of vision and then raises his eyebrows. "At least we'll have one Head Prefect who knows what they're doing," he says, pressing it into her hand.

She narrows her eyes, squinting at the badge which does indeed declare HG on the front. She makes a noise between a chuckle and a sigh. "'Course Dumbledore would choose me to work with you," Lily mutters with a smirk. "He wants us to get together, you know. I reckon he's got a soft spot for the whole, childhood-friends-turn-lovers bit."

James pauses before breaking out into guffaws. "You're mad," he tells her, "Absolutely bonkers, d'you know that?"

"I'm serious!" she says, whacking him with one of the letters lying about. "He's always pairing us up for things. Asking me to supervise your detentions when teachers can't, having you help me clear up when Peeves makes a mess, and I_ swear_ he winked at me when we were caught under the mistletoe last Christmas."

James props himself up on his elbow. "And you think he'd put us in charge of the school together because he thinks we'd make a good couple, Evans?" he asks in amusement. He pauses again before another fit of laughter hits him. "Shit, that sounds exactly like something Dumbledore would do, doesn't it?" He falls forward onto Lily's shoulder, his laughter vibrating against her skin.

"James?" asks Lily, once her friend has calmed down.

"Yeah?"

"I'm really glad you're Head Boy," she admits, leaning her chin on his head.

She can feel his lips turn up at the corners, pressed against her. "Thanks," he says gruffly, and she's almost certain if she looked down at him, he'd be blushing. "Lily?"

Lily makes a noise of recognition, and he lifts his head just enough so that he can look down at her. "D'you reckon I'd make a good lover?"

She grabs a pillow from behind her and hits him with it, but this only serves to amuse him more as he pulls her into his arms, making kissing noises. Eventually, she stops battering him and just tucks up against his chest, placing the two prefect badges on her night stand, side by side.


	4. No Need to Say Goodbye

_Prompt: James as a modern Muggle soldier, Lily as a Muggle war-side nurse._

* * *

><p>"Take off your shirt."<p>

"Forward of you, ma'am," he replies, grinning up at her from his cot.

Because Lily has heard twelve such remarks today, and because she has better things to do than banter with smarmy patients, she starts toward him, fingers swiftly parting his shirt buttons from their holes. She moves his hand away from the injury site. His wound is worse than she expected, and her eyes flicker back up to his and she sees that his grin is still in place.

"You were shot, Lieutenant." she says bluntly; obviously. He would not be there if he did not know he were injured.

"Yes, ma'am," he says pleasantly.

Perhaps his smiling expression is the result of some adrenaline rush. Lily does not linger on the thought and instead sets about dealing with his injury, moving him with careful precision to lie back on the cot. She knows the importance of sealing this wound immediately, despite the nonchalance of the soldier in front of her.

"What are you doing?" he asks as she works.

"At the moment? Trying to make sure your lung doesn't collapse."

Lily thinks his eyes widen behind his glasses, though that could just as easily be a reaction to her dressing his wound. "And later?" he says, sounding more strained.

"Probably trying to make sure someone else's lung doesn't collapse. It's sort of my job," she says, a small smile forming unbidden.

The soldier - Lieutenant Potter, Lily reads from his charts - hums in response. "This is my job," he tells her, his face contorting slightly as she finishes patching him up. His oblivious demeanour is beginning to slip. "Well, not this,specifically, but, you know, army officer-ing."

"An army officer in a war-zone. Fancy that," she murmurs, smile spreading. "You're lucky, you know. The internal injuries could be much worse than they seem, though I'll be recommending a CT scan anyway. I'm going to check your vitals now, Lieutenant."

As she moves to grab some equipment she feels Potter's hand come to touch her wrist lightly. "You've taken off my clothes and seen inside my chest cavity, ma'am. I think you can call me James." He releases her and sighs. "I think they're going to fire me,"

Lily turns around, preparing to take his blood pressure. "If I were you, I wouldn't be too upset about getting leave earlier than I'd planned, since you've just been _shot_, Lieut - James," she adjusts his arm. "I read the report. Haven't decided yet if you're very brave or very reckless,"

His grin is back. "Which would you prefer?"

She has to lean over him, and as she does she raises an eyebrow. "I like a bit of both, myself."

James ruffles his hair, and the gesture seems so boyish that she feels a swell of affection for this smarmy soldier who won't let even a bullet wound take the smile off his face for long. "When we're both back in England, ma'am, I'd like to take you out sometime,"

Lily laughs. "That could be months from now. Besides, you don't even know my name. I think the pain is making you delirious," she teases, patting his cheek. She makes a mental note to put him on morphine.

"Lily Evans," he says immediately, looking pleased with himself.

Her brows pull together. "Do we know each other?"

He looks at her intensely for a moment, as if trying to force her to recall the momentous occasion in which they met. She searches his face and can recall nothing of a messy-haired boy with specs and an ever-present grin before this moment. Then, his serious expression breaks and he laughs. "I looked through your charts when you were getting gauze."

She cannot help it; she laughs too. "Alright then," she tells him, grabbing an empty packet of bandages. On it, she writes an address. "Look me up when we're back home, Lieutenant James Potter,"

Still lying down on his cot, James gives her a salute. "Yes, ma'am."


	5. Anything You Can Do

_Prompt: James is unimpressed by Gilderoy Lockhart._

* * *

><p>"Is it illegal to murder third years?"<p>

"You know, I think it just might be," Lily says, not looking up from her Transfiguration homework. "Ever since the Davey Gudgeon incident, they've come up with some rubbish about looking after the next generation." She smirks.

James flicks a spare bit of parchment at his girlfriend, scowling. "Laugh all you want, Evans. You haven't got the _most irritating thirteen-year-old in all of Britain_ following you around,"

"I seem to recall being plagued by my own annoying third year at that age, who insisted on dipping my hair in ink and throwing parchment balls at me," she replies. Lily gives him a pointed look as she retrieves the parchment from its landing site: between her breasts. "Only now he's taller."

Privately, James congratulates himself on his aim, but he instead he replies sheepishly, "Old habits?" He sees Lily attempting not to smile and leans over the table to kiss her on her pursed lips. "Anyway, I wouldn't care if the little blighter fancied me, I just want him to stop imitating me!"

"All right, Potter?" comes a voice from nearby. James throws a look behind them and sighs.

"Hello, Gilderoy," he says, pinching the bridge of his nose.

By the sound of Lily, she has caught sight of him too, because she is desperately trying to turn her laughing into something resembling a coughing fit. Not that he can blame her. Under different circumstances, he likely would have found the sight of a small blond boy with hair charmed to stick up in every direction and a pair of glasses too large for his face amusing as well.

"That's a nice tie, Gilderoy," Lily tells him, grinning. "But aren't you in Ravenclaw?"

"Gryffindor colours look better with my hair," the third year informs her.

"I think Flitwick would probably prefer if you wore the uniform of your assigned house, mate," James tells him. "Don't want another detention, d'you? You've only just got out of trouble for carving your name in the Quidditch pitch."

Lily cannot help it and releases a sound that sounds like a cross between a snort and giggle. Gilderoy fixes her with a haughty look. "My mum told me I could make a name for myself at Hogwarts. I thought taking her literally was an _inspired_ choice on my part,"

"I'm very sorry, Gilderoy," she says. "It was a sound of appreciation for your… er, technique, really,"

Gilderoy brightens and brings his hands through his hair with a wide, white smile. He looks at James quickly and decides to rearrange the strands so they fall more in his eyes. It is all James can do not to bang his own head on the table.

It is time to put an end to this. "Listen, Gilderoy, can we have a word?" James asks, standing.

"I suppose I could make time for you," the blond boy says casually. "You know, since you really want to speak with me."

"Brilliant," says James, leading the boy away from their table. He sees Gilderoy send a wink at Lily as they leave, and James makes a face at her when she blows a kiss at them.

He slows as they exit the library, and stops once they have hit an empty stretch of empty corridor. Feeling he needs to be at eye-level to make his point, James crouches down slightly. "Gil, mate, I've noticed you don't seem… yourself, lately,"

"What do you mean?" asks Gilderoy, messing up his hair.

"Like that," James nods at him. "Normally, isn't your hair a bit… different? More neat and all. And you didn't wear glasses last week," he taps the bridge of the glasses, which are slipping down Gilderoy's face as they speak.

Gilderoy straightens up, puffing out his chest. "It's all part of my new look."

"And what, what look is that exactly?" James says, his forehead creasing. The kid is going to give early wrinkles, at this rate.

"Yours," replies Gilderoy matter-of-factly. "People like you. You're Head Boy and Quidditch captain. If it worked for you, it'll work even better for me,"

A part of him wonders if this is how he sounded at thirteen. He suddenly feels grateful to Lily for limiting her reactions to withering looks and calling him variations of 'big-headed git.' With that thought in mind, he tries a new tactic: what would've appealed to his thirteen-old-self.

"But mate, the thing is, if you're trying to be the next… _me_, then you can't be the first _you_." James stares into bright blue eyes, hoping he makes sense. "D'you understand?"

Gilderoy's eyes go wide. "That's true," he murmurs, almost to himself. "People can't admire me for being fantastic if they're too busy admiring you,"

James has to bite the corner of his mouth to keep from laughing. "Right," he says, nodding. "So put on your Ravenclaw tie, undo the charms on your hair - and give _these_ back to the house-elf you borrowed them from," James adds, plucking the glasses off Gilderoy's face and handing them to him.

Gilderoy marches off in the direction of the staircases, muttering about his image and hoping he hasn't destroyed the public's opinion of him. James shakes his head, chuckling.

"Well done, Potter," he hears behind him, and nearly jumps.

As he turns around, Lily's arms slide around his neck. "Been standing there long, have you?"

"A bit, yeah," she says, grinning. "You've come a long way, mate. In fifth year you'd have hexed him and told him to bugger off,"

James tugs her closer to him. "Still learning to curb those instincts. Was I really like that at his age?"

"Worse." Lily's hands weave into his hair.

"Better now?"

"Mm, maybe," she says, leaning up on her tiptoes to kiss him. "At least you're taller."


End file.
